Other Diplomacy Returns - Russia Won, Postgame up.

I'm missing orders from both Russia and France. It has been almost 72 hours, not 48. Get your orders in. If it were just one country, fine, let them idle as their punishment for not getting orders in. However, half the game remaining? No, no, no. Not going to make half the game idle. Agape (England) and Outlaw (Italy), I apologize for the delay, but I cannot reasonably expect this to continue to be much of a game if half the players idle. Extenstion, not yet determined how long.

Moderator

So, after Diplomacy took a hiatus after a failed World Diplomacy attempt, I decided I wanted to bring it back. However, it seemed a shame to have access to many variants and not use one of them. I think Fleet Rome had potential, and one of the major differences came to light with it. More on that later, though. This game was plagued by idling and slacking off, making the turns unnecessarily long - however, I was determined that this game would not fail. Constant nagging for orders is what saved the game, I think. Agape and Outlaw were the most active, of course. Lonelyness, before real life stuff forced him to sub out, was reasonably active, if I recall correctly.

As noted, the reason I called the game was because the most recent incarnation of Russia was in a can't lose situation, and obviously meant to exploit it.

Year 1901
This year was, of course, the most active year. In the west, Agape made an alliance with Germany and France for the Triple Alliance. This was not perfect, though, as Agape intended to stab Germany from the start, Germany intended to stab France from the start (partially due to Agape's lies), and France intended to stab England from the start. What eventually came to be was Entente Cordiale, though the England-Germany Alliance would have been far better than England-France. In the west, Austria turned against Turkey, and Russia kept his options open. Turkey used an ineffeicient opening, more on that later. Turkey thus began a steady decline, sadly, which affected the rest of the game quickly. Italy gambled on Austria not attacking, and made a partial alliance with Austria, at least. This cut Turkey off very thoroughly, and Turkey's inefficiency continued. This was, in part, due to not being able to change orders in time, as I had them all in. This is why I added a request for players to say tentative if they thought they might change their orders, even at all. Italy got a build more than usual, and was not harmed by Austria as the Fleet Rome setup allowed, and so got a good start. Russia got 3 builds and moved to destroy Turkey.

Year 1902
And the spring saw the stab of Germany by England and France. Really, Germany didn't have much of a chance, especially with Italy preoccupied to its east, and Russia to its south. Except for a fleet of Russia's that actually helped the stab. Really, it was determined early that Turkey and Germany would die first, so my sympathies to both those players. Russia and Italy spent the year killing Turkey and Austria, not much else to say there.

Year 1903
The destruction of Austria began in earnest as Italy chowed down on Autria's home centers. Russia decided to start taking over part of Germany, too. This ended with Germany absolutely destroyed, bar one center. Austria was eliminated this year, as Russia mk 2 made a pact with Austria, and promptly stabbed it, in the same season (fall). Had Austria stuck to the kamikaze blow against the forces near Turkey, it is possible both Turkey and Austria would have survived. It was this year that England and France intended to convoy Army Yor all the way over to NaF, but France entertained plans of stabbing England, which England got word of, and thus tried a more cautious approach. Italy also began gearing up for a war in the west, Austria Destroyed

Year 1904
Italy made a lucky prediction against France, which set the stage for the endgame, the falls of England and France. Russia joined Italy in mobilizing for a war with the west, which, in the long run, is what ended the game. Turkey got to live a bit longer. Germany survived a bit longer due to the situation being akward for pressing the attack once Germany was down to Denmark. Italy's fleets began the steady progression to destroy France and England.

Year 1905
Realistically speaking, I think France should have mobillized completely against Italy and left England against Russia. however, this is not what France did, and Italy continued the steady progression of France's destruction. Germany became a battleground, and Russia began destroying Turkey in earnest.

Year 1906
England diverted all forces against Russia, and left France to do minimal stuff against Italy. If I recall correctly, this was part of a plan to force Russia to stab Italy. Russia also offed Turkey, finally, or would have, if he'd sent in orders. This resulted in Turkey taking Sev, and living another year. Germany, however, was not so fortunate, becoming a Janissary for England/France, and promptly being stabbed (one season longer than Russia-Austria lasted, though), as England saw a golden opportunity.Germany Destroyed

Year 1907
Begin incarnation three of Russia. In retrospect, choosing an eliminated player may have been a bad idea, but I was out of people who hadn't played at all who could sub, and Russia's player (Austria) had been out for a while, and thus wouldn't know any sensitive stuff. Turkey was able to get a dig in on Russia by helping England take StP, but Italy's fleets continued their destruction of the Entente Cordiale. Russia saw the way to squish Turkey, despite it's alliance with England, and retook its Sev, eliminating Turkey.Turkey Destroyed

Year 1908
Russia mobilized to take Scandinavia and StP, as well as present an unthreatening defense to Italy. Conflict in the England/France/Spain area was mostly inconclusive, except Italy kept gaining a better position.

Year 1909
Russia began taking Scandinavia and StP, and steadily made progress, aided by how Russia's armies kept being disbanded in battle, rather than adjustment, allowing Russia to always have builds. Italy continued taking over the west. England's plans... I forget which nation he was trying to get to stab which at this point, but the idea was to get into a kingmaker position between Russia and Italy, and maybe make a comeback in the chaos. France would follow this comeback, possibly.

Year 1910
Russia sees an opportunity to stab Italy, starts taking it, and game over.

Now to rate the players:

Austria - Rediamond
Rediamond started with a defeatist attitude, given, well, Austria. However, that was no excuse to give up on winning and instead just try to make a splash. Fleet Rome made Italy more vulnerable to Austria, but Austria did not capitalize on this at all, and Italy got away with a better opening than in the normal game. I give you an B for tactics, a D for negotiations, a D for strategy, and an F for attitude, D overall.

Germany - Walrein
Really, Germany's fall wasn't the fault of Germany. Germany's death was pretty much decided on before turn one ended. His negotiations went passably, but was screwed over by Entente Cordiale and Russia. I give you a C+ for Tactics, a B for negotiations, an A for Effort, and an F in not getting teamed up on. Overall, I'd rate you as a B-, but you got stuck with a central nation as a newbie, so I don't blame you too much for your failure to negotiate out of the situation. Learn from this, though!

Quagsires - Turkey
Ok, you messed up early with both strategy and tactics, though you were aware of some of this. Frankly, you should have been the second to die, after Austria. Maybe a tie for first to die, based on your blunders. I gave you Turkey because it is theoretically passable to defend, an easier country to use. Learn from this, and remember to not leave wide openings for someone to attack, like you left. Tactics rate an F, Strategy rates a D, Negotiations rate a C+ for spiting Russia and helping England, but it didn't last too well. Overall, you get a D.

France - Maxim
Ok, you did passably for a newbie. However, you got yourself into an alliance that doesn't really work as often as others. You also relied too much on England for your actions, when you should have been learning. Tactics rate a C- because you questioned England's sanity against Italy's attack, Strategy gets a C+ because you contemplated stabbing England twice, and both times could have worked, negotiations rate a B- because you found a lasting ally, but had a falling out over your contemplations of stabbing England. Overall, I give you a C+.

England - Agape
Ok, Agape had a great many plans, including the "Hey, Bresto" strategy, which I would have named him Magnificent Bastard for, but he never used it, so he doesn't get the title. He also tried to pit Italy and Russia against each other, not realizing they had agreed to a 17-17 split (a deal that was later betrayed). Even with that agreement, it was entirely plausible that they would turn on each other. England came close to a stalemate line, but that fell through, and also made some crucial mispredictions. I give you a B- on tactics, a B on strategy, an A for negotiations, and an A+ for effort. Overall, you get a B+ or an A-, it's sort of on the edge.

Italy - Outlaw
You got lucky early with Austria not attacking you, though gobbling up Austria afterwards was anything but luck. I actually expected you to win, or tie with Russia, before Russia went for the solo win. I sort of expected that, even though Russia didn't tell me what he was planning. In your place, I'd have placed some guards against a stab, so that you would have had a chance at repulsing an attack. As such, I think you were too trusting of Russia, and thought it well before that was all but proven. I give you an A on tactics, a B+ for strategy (because you didn't guard against a stab), an A in negotiations (It would be an A- or a B+, but for your performance early, before it became Russia-Italy vs England-France), and an A+ in effort. Overall, I'd give you an A-

Russia - LonelyNess/Jalmont/Rediamond
The three names are why I said Russia wins, rather than any of Russia's players. Really, LN got a decent position, Jalmont just capitalized on it a bit, and Rediamond just pressed on and stabbed Italy. Add in that Russia's final player was also Austria's player (first to die), and I think It's justified for me to treat Russia as a complete entitiy rather than the players behind it. Russia got a good start with 3 builds, and two neighbors who were slated to die fast. Not much more that I can think of, though, other than the stab against Italy that ended the game. As Russia won, there will be no grades here.

So, that's it. If you want to argue a point, point out something I missed/got wrong, or something else, then by all means do so.

Well, I must say for my first Diplomacy game, this was actually quite fun, despite me basically expecting to get shot to pieces within the first three years.

A few thoughts: First, I was a bit reluctant to ally with England because of most strategy guides basically screaming it never works. However, under the looming threat of Germany trying to kill me and having an interest in not getting shot by both of them, I agreed to the alliance. Germany fell easily enough, however Italy got far more powerful than either of us had a right to expect (especially since Italy is usually considered one of the weaker factions in the game).

Second, my relations with Italy...pretty much the reason I was obliterated near the end. As the postgame indicated, I had a plan to stab England to the point where he would've been basically obliterated, and then I could mop up the rest of Germany with my now huge army. Problem being, this required Italy keeping his focus on the east instead of the west so I had started to propose a ceasefire. Unfortunately, I was a bit reluctant to stab my ally, so I neglected to give him any of the details. This made him paranoid enough to leak my plans to England and thus ruin any chance I had of the stab. Once that happened, my game was basically over, since Russia and Italy had become our enemies and both far too powerful for us to take. Funnily enough, when there was the prospect of a three way alliance, I actually asked Austria to help me take down Italy (or something, the details are a bit blurry). So yeah, basically trying to kill Italy ended up being the worst move in the end.

That said, my alliance with Agape was fun while it lasted. Admittedly, I sort of put myself on autopilot towards the end because I honestly had no clue what Italy was going to do next or how to keep myself alive. It basically boiled down to I wasn't confident enough to deal my own actions without screwing up and dying horribly.

Overall, this was quite fun and I hope to do this again...hopefully with a better alliance situation.

On the record, I remembered absolutely nothing about this game at the time that I took over as Russia. Like, nothing at all. In hindsight, what I thought I knew was confused with another game I played Austria.

And this was my first time with Fleet Rome. In hindsight, moving on Italy would have been far more logical.